Lunar X team books ride to the moon on SpaceX rocket

Robot development firm Astrobotic Technology Inc has found
a way to send its robot payload to the Moon, and get a head start
on the multi-million dollar Google Lunar X Prize. The team has signed a contract with commercial space firm SpaceX to hitch a
ride on the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

The mission will see the Falcon 9 rocket sling Astrobotic's
robot on a four-day journey to the Moon. It would then orbit the
Moon to align itself, and then safely land on the lunar surface, using technologies developed at Carnegie Mellon
University for guiding autonomous cars.

It will then explore the surface for three months, operating
during lunar days and hibernating during lunar nights. The robot
will hunt for water, analyse its surroundings using various
scientific instruments, and broadcast 3D video of its journey to
the team back on Earth.

If they successfully reach the moon, the state of Florida
plans to pay the team $2 million, and Nasa will also hand over $10 million. There are also bonuses
from other space agencies and corporate marketers. However,the search engine giant's prize is the biggest. Google is
promising $20 million to the first privately-funded team to safely
land a robot on the surface of the Moon. As long as the robot
lands, travels 500 meters and sends back images and data, the prize
is theirs. The team in second place secures $5
million.

21
teams are currently in the race for the Google
Lunar X Prize. The clock is ticking though, because the
multi-million dollar prize bucket expires in 2015.

Late last year, SpaceX became the first privately funded company to
successfully return a spacecraft -- Dragon -- from Earth's orbit.
The company sells payload space on its various Falcon and Dragon
vehicles to space agencies and corporations. Nasa is one such
customer, and will borrow the Falcon 9 to fly cargo to the ISS when its own shuttles are retired later this
year.

Astrobotic and SpaceX's collaborative mission to the Moon
could launch as soon as December 2013.